The thesis is based on analysis of influence of tourism on cultural heritage in coastal regions of Republic of Croatia. It begins by defining identity, cultural heritage and authenticity. For the purpose of the thesis, identity is defined as awareness of the history, i.e. as a part of the message carried by heritage and becoming an element of knowledge of existence. Culture is defined as a set of values of certain society, i.e. everything that came in to it, came from it, remained and was preserved on the territory it exists on. Authenticity is set in correlation with culture so that human culture is not only physical sum of national cultures, certain specifics of national cultures contribute to wider, global culture. Starting point of the thesis is based on proposition that culture „encompasses the totality of the creation or phenomenon in the material and spiritual life of every nation and humanity as a whole“, while heritage if taken as „the legacy that ancestors leave behind.“ Heritage as such enters the very notion of culture as something that is preserved and something that is passed on and inherited. The following is a division of the cultural heritage into material and immaterial, and the thesis will problematize both. The thesis is a specific overview of the impact of tourism on cultural heritage in coastal regions of Republic of Croatia, so just as the region itself, it is divided in three parts: Istria, Croatian littoral and Dalmatia. In those chapters there are examples of positive and negative
influences of tourism on cultural heritage also – material and immaterial.